


Life at Indigo Academy I: A Big Misunderstanding

by seri-kun (vanijane)



Series: Life at Indigo Academy [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - School, F/M, Leaf & Ohkido Green | Leaf & Blue Oak bromance, M/M, One-sided Kasumi/Red | Misty/Red, One-sided Ohkido Green/Red | Blue Oak/Red, Possibly Pre-Slash, Slight N/Black, Slight N/Touya | Hilbert/N, Teenage Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-27
Updated: 2014-01-27
Packaged: 2018-01-10 06:12:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1156083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanijane/pseuds/seri-kun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Red thinks he's doing Misty a favour by using Melon but she storms out mad. Erika will do everything in her power (her Gloom's technically) to make things right for her best friend while Leaf and Green are hell-bent in keeping Red's virtue in tact.</p><p>Silver just thinks everything is going to be one big mess and N is disappointed Black doesn't need him like that.</p><p> </p><p>  <i>OR</i></p><p> </p><p>Misty is pissed. Red is confused. Erika is a black market matchmaker. Leaf is hardcore cockblocker and Green is Red's virginity bodyguard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life at Indigo Academy I: A Big Misunderstanding

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written on August 15, 2012 and I just decided to actually post this thing (after so long).
> 
> Note: The portrayal of characters are a mixture from the games, manga and possibly anime.

This story begins with, of course, a one-on-one pokémon battle between friends—a female trainer and a male trainer. Students were only allowed to carry up to three pokémon at a time and if they had more, they could store them in PC or rent out space at the ranch located at the back of the school.

The female trainer was using a staryu against the male trainer’s charmeleon. Staryu attacked with another water gun but again, Charmeleon had evaded the attack and ran towards Staryu to tackle it. Staryu was unable to avoid the attack in time and was sent sprawling back, struggling to stand back up on its feet but as soon as it did, the light on its gem flickered before it felt back on the ground.

“No, Staryu!” The female trainer, a student on her seventh year who pledged to become the best water pokémon trainer in the world, cried as she ran to her fallen pokémon.

“Good work, Melon.” The male trainer, another seventh year student who was famous for never losing a single match since his first year in the academy, whispered to the fire lizard. His voice was low and a bit hoarse from not being used for long but in the now quiet closed arena, his voice was loud enough to echo around the halls.

Charmeleon gave a disapproving look at the nickname he was given but leaned into the trainer’s hand, glad for the praise and attention he was getting. The battle was hard, especially trying to avoid the water attacks from Staryu but thanks to the trainer, he was able to win the battle.

The female trainer sighed, her pokémon already back in its pokéball. “Geez, Red, is there anything that you _can’t_ do?”

Red, the male trainer, only shrugged but not out of arrogance. He didn’t know how to respond to the question and he had talked too much that day already (the only thing he had said was the praise for Melon), he no longer felt like talking.

“He can’t hold a decent conversation, that’s one.” A new voice answered the female trainer’s rhetorical question. Charmeleon perked up upon hearing the voice and ran to the human who immediately petted him when he was close enough. “Good job, boy. And don’t tell me you got used to that Melon crap, we both know it’s a shitty nick.”

Charmeleon let out a small growl of agreement and pressed his head to the hand. He always liked to be petted and he was glad that his trainer (and his friend) gave him pets every now and then. He even got to sleep outside his pokéball and beside his trainer, as long as he made sure his tail didn’t get into anything flammable.

His trainer looked up at his friend and their classmate, his hand still patting on Charmeleon, “You all right, Misty? Idiot here didn’t nuke you much?”

The female trainer, Misty grunted, crossing her arms over her ample chest. “As if, Green, as if! Hmph! I’ll beat you next time, Red, just you wait!”

Red merely shrugged and Green sighed at his friend’s strange social manners. Misty was already halfway to the exit when she suddenly stopped and turned to look at them, at Red, fire in her eyes as she pointed an accusing index finger at him. “And the next time, have the decency to use your own pokémon!”

Red and Green turned to look at each other as Misty stomped out the arena. Charmeleon was confused, he didn’t understand why the female human was so angry. His trainer’s friend had already given her the advantage because they knew that if Red’s Saur had battled, Staryu wouldn’t have lasted a full half minute.

Humans were strange, Charmeleon thought as he rubbed his head on his trainer’s leg.

“What did you do this time?” Green asked with a light shake of his head, although he was used to this sort of situations.

Red shrugged again and because it was Green, he answered him, “I wanted to give her a chance to win so I borrowed Melon.”

Both Green and Charmeleon made a face at the nickname, it was very unbefitting of an excellent and strong pokémon.

“If I used Saur, she wouldn’t have the chance to win.” Red continued and held the brim of his cap, shifting it slightly. His red eyes looked to the exit and back to Green, “Did I do something wrong?”

Before he answered, Green let out a huff of breath and placed an arm around his friend’s shoulders. “Come on, stupid, let’s grab lunch. Just forget about it, women have crazy brains.”

Red quietly nodded as he let the taller teen lead him out of the arena, Charmeleon trailing behind them with a satisfied grin on his face from his win. Charmeleon watched as his trainer laughed and grinned wider (looking scarier to the innocent passer-by), he wouldn’t admit it to his trainer but his trainer’s friend was a much better battler but he gave his pokémon weird names, unfortunately.

* * *

“I heard someone’s pretty pissed off at a certain red-eyed trainer.” Leaf teased in a sing-song voice as she sat on the empty seat beside Red, taking some of the fries off his plate.

Red’s expression didn’t make any significant changes but both Leaf and Green could tell that he was irritated at her for stealing his food. However, Leaf chose to ignore it, knowing that Red couldn’t do anything to possibly hurt her.

“Oh, by the way, I just got Saur from the ‘center.” Leaf took out a pokéball from her bag and let out Red’s ivysaur on the space beside them. Once the pokémon was out and saw his trainer, he excitedly placed his front paws on Red’s lap, seeking attention and a hug.

“Nice to see you, too, buddy.” Red whispered to his pokémon, a small smile on his face as he petted the green pokémon’s head. Saur let out a low growl of content and made himself comfortable on Red’s lap, no plans on leaving.

“I would say that that’s really cute but Saur can kick butt like no one’s business.” Leaf playfully shook her head and slid Red’s plate over to her, enjoying her free meal. “Misty got pissed, you know.”

To that statement, Red shrugged and had lost his appetite. He still didn’t get why Misty was angry at him; the way he saw it, he was doing her a favour. She always challenged him to a battle ever since they were both first years, back when the only pokémon he had was Poli. Misty hadn’t won a single match ever since and he thought that Misty should win at least once; he didn’t want the girl to dislike him _after_ their graduation. For all the battles they had, Red considered her a friend and he didn’t want her to resent him for being a prick who didn’t let her win even a single match.

By this time, Green was rolling his eyes. “You’re making a big deal out of this crap. She’s just pissed she lost, is all. No one’s fault but hers. She can’t even win when she’s got type advantage. Red wasn’t even using his own pokémon. He is severely handicapped.”

Leaf let out a breath, rolling her eyes back at Green. “It goes to show that geniuses are idiots.”

“Takes one to know one, pest.” Green hissed with venom in his voice but Leaf easily ignored it and continued to eat Red’s lunch. He returned to tapping on his laptop, making his research report paper that was due in a couple of days. It was a group report however Leaf wasn’t doing much and Red never did research because that was Green’s forte.

“You two should be kissing my feet for this.” Green mumbled, tapping away their report. “This is a guaranteed A. I deserve better than this.”

“You can have me however you like, Green.” Leaf said, spreading her arms wide and a smirk on her face.

“I am _not_ desperate to get laid to the likes of _you_.” Green grunted without looking up from the laptop, “I’ve got five hundred thousand followers on Chatter, that’s five hundred thousand bed partners to choose from.”

“You are disgusting.” Leaf made a face, sticking her tongue out at Green. “I hope you get raped or something—wait, that’s just what you would want. You are sick, Green Oak, _sick_.”

This time Green looked up from his laptop and grinned smugly at Leaf, who then broke out laughing. She didn’t for one second believe that Green was as active as he led people to believe, even if there were many girls (and boys) who have said otherwise. She couldn’t deny that he had five hundred thousand followers (and counting) on Chatter, he was currently the most popular student in school and that didn’t help deflate Green’s already massive ego.

Both Green and Leaf had started going into bromance phase, talking about anything crude and subjects that would certainly make all of Pallet Town blush redder than slugmas. It was during this phase that Red tuned them out from his hearing, not really wanting to hear Green and Leaf talk about their non-existent escapades (Red wasn’t really sure if they were non-existent but he didn’t really care either way) and he was usually left out of these conversations, not really having anything to add anyway.

Red was contented with staring into the red eyes of his ivysaur and stroking his leaves. As he did, Red thought why people couldn’t be simpler to understand like Pokémon; life for him would have been easier if it had been that way.

“Saur.” Saur growled lowly, as if responding to Red’s thoughts.

Red sighed, if only people were simple.

* * *

Misty was doing laps in the pool, venting out her frustration from the earlier battle with Red. She’d just made her umpteenth lap when she saw her good friend Erika calling her from the bleachers. She didn’t go out of the pool but swam to the closest side to her friend.

“What’re you doing here?” Misty asked, only very slightly out of breath.

“I should be asking _you_ that question.” Erika smiled gently, folding her hands on her lap. “So, I heard that you battled Red earlier today.”

Misty grunted, “Same old, same old.”

“What happened?” Erika asked patiently, she was already very used to the red-head’s temper. They were exact opposites, with Erika being polite and ladylike while Misty was rash and tomboyish; where Misty was loud, Erika was composed and yet they became fast friends.

Misty didn’t say anything for a while, settling with scowling and glaring at the water but finally, under Erika’s patient gaze, she spoke, “I lost, again.”

“That isn’t new.” Erika commented, she was one of the very few (if not only) people who could get away with saying things like that to Misty unscathed. “You always lose to Red. Everyone does.” She added under her breath.

“He wasn’t even using his own pokémon, he was using Green’s charmeleon.” Misty frowned as she recalled how her Staryu, whom she had since she was a little girl, was easily beaten. “A _fire_ type and it’s not even his. It was a borrowed pokémon. You know how temperamental those species are and yet it followed everything Red ordered it. _He_ wasn’t even speaking, as usual. The charmeleon just… _knew_. And you could tell that Red was the one calling the shots, not the charmeleon.”

“It’s almost insulting. Is he insulting me on purpose?” Misty snapped, slapping a hand on the water. “Using a fire type against me, that wasn’t even his—he’s looking down on me like-like he’s pitying me or something. It’s insulting.”

“Have you ever thought that he was trying to help you?” Erika asked after a moment, just to make sure that Misty was finished.

“So, he _is_ pitying me!” Misty snapped and turned to Erika, glaring at her, “I don’t mind losing to his poliwrath or his ivysaur—it’s his, there’s a bond, he trained them, it’s a fair fight. But-But—Charmeleon! It isn’t even his, he didn’t train it and they don’t even have a deep bond. You could see the glare the lizard gave him every time he called it Melon.”

“Melon?” Erika shook her head sadly at that, she understood why a proud creature like Charmeleon wouldn’t like the nickname. After a while, she sighed and stood up from where she sat to approach the pool side. “Misty, you should just tell Red.”

Almost immediately, Misty’s face flushed with colour. “W-What are you talking about, Erika?!”

Erika smiled, it was almost _too_ easy to read her friend, and it always amazed her how not many people could _see_ it. “About the battle.”

“O-Oh, so that’s what you meant…”

“Yes, why? Where you expecting something else?”

“N-No…no.”

“I think you should just tell Red how you really feel, that’s all. We know how he can be quite difficult most of the time, I’m positive that if you talk to him and clear things up, everything will be fine. Better, even.”

Misty looked down, her face still slightly flushed. “M-May be…it sounds like a good idea. May be I’ll try it.”

“Good.” Erika smiled, it was too easy to play matchmaker. She could see it—pretty soon, Red and Misty would be walking down the halls, hand in hand with smiles and fluffy high school puppy love—yet another couple she has helped.

* * *

Red was lying in his pikachu pyjamas on bed while Green was on the study table, tapping furiously on the keys of his laptop making their report. Their pokémon—Red’s poliwrath, pikachu and ivysaur and Green’s eevee and charmeleon—were lazing around the room, mostly playing with each other.

Red shifted on his bed and looked at his friend frowning at the screen of the laptop. He didn’t comment on it, knowing that Green would only get mad at him and force him to do the report instead—which Red didn’t want, he hated making papers or reports, it was boring. He continued to watch Green silently, his chin buried on a pillow and eevee resting on his head that it looked like a fluffy hat.

When Green turned his head to tell his roommate off for staring at him, Green ended up staring at the ridiculous sight before him—Red looked like he drowned in fluff. It was the most adorable sight in the world and Green restrained himself from doing something he would regret later.

“What are you doing?” He said instead, his voice coming out rough and mean. Green was proud of it, actually. It was everything that was opposite of what was going on in his head.

Red shrugged in response, further burrowing himself into the pillow until only his eyes were visible.

“You are so _weird_.” Green shook his head before turning back to his laptop and their report but just as he was about to resume typing, he heard Red’s muffled voice call him.

“Green.” It was faint and if Green’s ears weren’t used to Red’s volume, he would’ve missed it.

“What?” He snapped without looking at Red.

“Is Misty all right?”

Green frowned at the question and at the tone his friend used. It sounded almost like the usual monotone Red used but Green noticed the distinct difference that sounded like worry, which was strange because Red never worried for anything or anyone—he cared for no one but himself.

“Still hung up over that? Stop being a girl, man. Get over it.”

Red didn’t say anything, he continued to stare at Green until the latter gave up and turned to look at him. “I don’t know, okay? I don’t care for a loser like her. She’s weak, she’s useless and she’s flat as a board. If you’re so worried about her go and talk to her, for Arceus’ sake. I’m already busy with this report, I don’t have time to deal with whatever crap you have.”

Red was silent when he continued to stare at his friend for a moment longer before completely burying his face under the fluff. He heard the sound of the chair scrapping the floor and knew that Green had returned to making their report.

He wasn’t sure about _talking_ to Misty, he didn’t like to talk and today, he had already talked too much. Actually, when he thought about it, Misty made him talk too much. He let out a sigh and closed his eyes, his last thought was a wish that people would turn into pokémon.

* * *

Red woke up to the sound of the water running and a weight on his stomach. When he pushed himself up a bit he saw that a part of him was buried under Pika, Eevee and Saur. Eevee cuddling beside him meant that Green had already woke up and was either bathing or down at breakfast.

He patted the pokémon awake but they only rolled off him and continued their slumber. With the pokémon out of the way, Red pulled himself up and sat on the edge of his bed just as Green exited the bathroom already in his uniform.

Green smacked him lightly on the side of the head when he walked past towards the study table. “Rise and shine, sleepyhead. Hurry up, we have test during first period.”

Red stood up from his bed and went into the bathroom to get ready for the day ahead. Green sighed when the door closed behind his friend, thinking that maybe he shouldn’t have been too hard on him the previous night.

“S’not my fault.” Green grumbled to himself as he closed the lid of his laptop. Red had been annoying, pinning over a girl so obviously and desperately that it made him feel sick. But what was worse was the fact that Red didn’t realize it himself, it made Green want to tear the boy apart for being so damn slow most of the time.

It was quite frustrating on his part, having to watch his clueless friend remain utterly slow and clueless to his own feelings. It was _really_ frustrating that he didn’t even want to, or think of, helping Red. Red had to learn the hard way himself and Green wasn’t going to help him out, just like always, this time. He was going to stop helping the idiot from now on.

“Towel.” Red’s wet head poked out from the bathroom door, the water dripping to the rag on the floor.

Slapping his forehead, Green threw him an unused towel before realizing what he had just done and slapped himself again.

* * *

“You’re in denial.” Leaf whispered to Green’s ear during free period.

“Shut up, Leaf. Not now.” Green snapped, still focused on _their_ report. He was nearly finished with the entire report, then all he had to do was review everything for any errors.

“Honestly, Green, I don’t see why you should be so in denial.” Leaf continued, sitting beside him. Then she looked across the couple sitting in front of them, “You guys can see it, too, right? Green is totally jealous.”

Silver sighed, suddenly being dragged into a mess he didn’t want to be in. If he had to be painfully honest, he looked up to Green and respected the guy and having Leaf put him in a situation where it would ruin whatever friendly relationship he had with Green was not helping. The red-headed sixth year student decided to take a page from Red’s book and remain quiet.

“Yeah, totally.” Soul agreed almost immediately and Silver felt like slapping himself. Sometimes his girlfriend could be a bit clueless about the situation they were in that Silver didn’t know whether to shake her or kiss her. There was something refreshing and adorable over her naiveté and cluelessness. “I mean, I heard that _she_ has this big crush on Red from a reliable source. They might get together if no one tries to stop it.”

Leaf’s face fell at that new piece of information and Silver could hear the wheels in her head halting with a screech. This was a bad sign, it meant that she was going to start meddling and that usually ended badly for those involved.

“And you know this how?” Leaf asked slowly to make sure that whatever plans her mind has come up with would be completely valid.

“I was checking out the other non-academic clubs I could join in and while I was checking out the swimming club bulletin board, I…” Soul trailed down, fidgeting on her seat and looked at Silver nervously, feeling a bit ashamed of herself.

“And you what?” Leaf urged, not realizing that even Green had stopped typing and was waiting for Soul to finish.

“Well, I might have _overheard_ Misty and Erika talking.” Soul admitted, “I heard Erika telling Misty to go talk to Red and to tell him how she um, really felt…”

“I-I don’t think that she would tell him about her crush or anything b-but Erika is known to play matchmaker.” The younger girl quickly added before Leaf could formulate a devious plan in her head.

Sensing his girlfriend’s distress, Silver leaned forward on the table. “Leaf, hold on, may be we’re just blowing things out of proportion.”

“Whether she actually has feelings for Red or not is no longer important.” By now, Leaf had already stood up from her seat. “What’s important here is that Erika has meddled into the affairs of my friends.”

Green, who badly wanted to point out to her that she wasn’t any different from Erika, remained silent. While he was opposed to meddling in general, his protective instincts towards his friends kicked in so he listened to whatever Leaf had to say.

“Erika, that sly witch, is a notorious matchmaker. She enjoys pairing up people who don’t belong together.” Leaf frowned as she spoke, “She uses her pokémon’s petals to make love potions and they are effective. She actually sells these things secretly. I saw Gold buy a vial—thank Arceus he fell off his skateboard and the vial broke before he could use it.”

There was a relieved sigh that came from Silver, Arceus forbid Gold uses it on any poor, unsuspecting girl. Leaf had already plotted on what to do and was about to drag Silver and Soul out to search for either Misty or Red when Green stood up, holding his closed laptop in hand.

“You guys are paranoid idiots.” Green said, sounding frustrated. “I’m heading somewhere quiet to finish this stupid report.”

“But, Green!” Leaf gasped, trying to stop Green from leaving. “This is Red and—”

“Look, I don’t care what that idiot does with his love life, or lack thereof. Smell ya later.” Green shrugged and left.

“That leaves just the three of us, then.” Leaf huffed and turned to face at Silver and Soul but they were no longer there. “Oh, fine! I’ll fix everything myself! Geez!”

* * *

Red was hanging around the rooftop because he couldn’t find any of his friends at their usual places. Pika, Saur and Poli were playing near him as he laid on the ground, watching the clouds move. It was then that the door had opened and he was no longer alone. The quiet student tilted his head up to check his new companion.

It was one of his schoolmates, a boy three years younger who was famous for being part of the foreign student program. Black was part of the very few students from Unova and Red had to admit, he liked the kid despite being loud and crazy like a Leaf and Gold hybrid.

"Hey, Red!" The younger brunette broke to a wide grin as he plopped beside his senior.

Red nodded back in acknowledgement.

"Green's not here?" Black asked absentmindedly and shrugged, finding it a little strange that Green wasn't within fifty feet of the red-eyed teen. "Oh! Hey, I heard the thing about Misty!"

Red's shoulders slumped and thought that it must've been really bad since Black knew about it and he was just a fourth year student.

"Well, whatever. If you ask me, you were giving her a favour." Black shrugged and Red was once again reminded why he liked this kid, they shared mostly the same perspective in life.

"Women, I tell you." He added with a heavy sigh and Red had to nod in agreement, it was mildly assuring that both Green and Black agreed with him. It meant that he wasn't in wrong but strangely, it still bothered him.

Then the red eyed trainer heard his companion rummaging through his school bag and looked to see the excitement in the younger student's eyes. Red mentally shook his head, Black was always excitable. It was rare seeing him otherwise.

"Look here!" A piece of paper was thrust onto his face and before Red could swipe it away, Black had already pulled it from him. "N gave me letter!"

He stared blankly at the other, trying to remember who this N was. Nothing was coming up and he gave up but made a mental note to ask Green or Leaf about it later. As he was lost in thought, Black was proudly reading the letter out loud.

"...You know, N's kind of old fashioned. He likes writing how he feels in letters and he's got this fancy-shmancy writing. Sometimes, he even leaves short letters for White when he's sorry, she hates--"

"Wait." Red interrupted, a firm grip on Black's wrist.

The younger boy gulped, watching as Red stared at him, quickly growing awkward and anxious as the seconds passed with not a word from the other.

Red wasn't aware of Black's discomfort though and continued to stare at him blankly as he thought about it. He didn’t want to talk mostly because he found it cumbersome but also because he didn’t know how to express himself verbally. Talking to Misty was kind of scaring him because she didn’t understand him like Green or Leaf did and he didn’t want to mess up. But if he wrote what he felt then, he could already see it, everything would fall into place.

"Teach me." Red insisted quietly.

"Teach you what?" Black frowned, still mildly shocked over Red actually speaking to him with words. It took a while for the pieces to fall into place and when it finally did, the brunette beamed. "Oh! Uh, I don't know how to--but N should! He'd be glad to teach you--wait, I'm going to ring him. He's usually skipping class so he should be free."

Red let go of the wrist, nodding and quietly watching as Black called his friend on his school issued pokégear. It wasn't long until they heard quick footsteps coming from inside and a tall green-haired student Red realized was his classmate in a few classes arrived with a wide pleasant smile on his face.

"You needed my help for something, Black?" He asked, radiating with joy.

"Hey, N!" Black grinned in response then gestured to Red, "Red, this is N. N, this is Red. He needs help writing a letter for Misty."

"Oh," N's shoulders slumped but he sat beside Black anyway to give his classmate, one he barely spoke to the past seven years, a quick lesson in letter writing.

The green haired student took out a couple sheets of paper and a pen from his bag and handed it to Red, giving him simple pointers to make an effective letter while Black watched and paid a bit of attention.

“Thanks.” Red said quietly as he took the items from N, taking in all what the other had to impart. It took him a moment to ponder over what he would write but the moment he started, he didn’t stop and all that Black and N could do was smile at the awkwardness.

* * *

“So, are you going to talk to him today?” Erika asked her best friend during home economics class.

“Um, may be.” Misty looked down, her hands fumbling over the cheese. “After classes are over.”

“That’s good.” Erika smiled as she nodded. “Oh, I know, why don’t you give him the cookies we’re baking today? We don’t have anyone to give them to, anyway and it’s not good for our diet.”

“W-Well…”

“It’s a shame for it to go to waste.”

“F-Fine!”

“Great! I already wrapped it for you.” Erika’s smile widened and handed Misty the neatly wrapped cookies in orange wrapper and red ribbons. “I wish you luck for later.”

“Thanks, Erika.” Misty smiled at her friend as she accepted the cookies. “Thanks for… _this_. It means a lot to me.”

“I know.” Erika smiled knowingly while at the back of her mind, she pictured wedding bells and flower arrangement commissions for the wedding.

* * *

Erika was on her way towards her club room later that day when she was suddenly thrown and pinned to the wall. She immediately tossed out a pokéball, freeing her gloom but her attacker was quicker, cornering Gloom with a nidorina.

“L-Leaf?” Erika gasped after finally laying her eyes on her attacker, “Wh-What are you—”

“Grass are weak to poison.” Leaf said, pushing Erika on the wall. “Give up on Red.”

Erika smirked despite her position, “Too late, Misty has already gone to speak with him.”

“Dammit.” Leaf cursed under her breath as she pulled away from Erika, freeing the dark-haired girl.

“There’s nothing you can do, Leaf. Once Red eats those cookies, he’ll finally realize his latent feelings for Misty.” Erika smiled elegantly but all Leaf could see was a smile dripping of venom. “There’s nothing you can do. Just accept it.”

“Try me.” Leaf hissed before running down the hallways to find where Misty and Red were.

* * *

Red held the letter he had written for Misty, fingering it unconsciously. N had also taught him how to fold the letter properly and Red had made sure to remember the steps in case he needed it in the future. If things worked well with Misty, he was going to make use of this letter writing.

The timing was almost perfect, he thought, when he bumped into Erika earlier on his way to look for Misty. She told him that Misty wanted to talk to him and that she was by the cherry blossom trees.

He was almost _too_ confident as he walked towards the cherry blossoms, his pokémon trailing closely behind him. He couldn’t wait to tell Green and Leaf later that he solved his problem.

* * *

Green wiped the sweat off his forehead and came to a stop, trying to catch his breath. Red hadn’t been in any of his classes today which was odd because he wasn’t the type to miss his classes—not that it would matter if he missed a few since his grades were near perfect.

Leaf had also messaged him on his pokégear about her confrontation with Erika and if he didn’t move his butt, Red was going to be mindless zombie who thought he was in love with a flat-chested tomboy.

Green, of course, ignored Leaf’s calls before and after that message because he was busy looking for Red. Not that he would admit it aloud but he might have been worried a bit for his awkward roommate.

He began to run again, looking around him for any sign of Red or Misty. He had sent out Eevee, Charmeleon and Scizor earlier to look for Red but none of them had found him either. He was starting to get worried, Red may be a strong trainer but sometimes he was a bit naïve and easily got fooled or conned (it happened numerous time before).

“Dammit.”

He could only hope that whatever Erika had Misty do, the water trainer would have some dignity and pride not to trick Red or else they had _him_ to deal with—and he wasn’t Red’s rival for nothing.

* * *

When Red arrived with three of his pokémon, Misty had already mentally prepared herself to say what she felt but before she could shove the bag of cookies towards him and tell him her thoughts, he held out a letter to her.

“For me?” Misty stared at the letter, her face brighter than Moltres’ flames. At Red’s silent nod, Misty took the intricately folded letter with shaking hands. She didn’t take Red for the type to write letters or to know how to fold a love letter.

When Red continued to stare at her, she figured a moment later that he wanted her to read the letter right then and there. Her eyes widened at his boldness and stammered, “N-Now? I sh-should r-read this n-now?”

Red nodded and with an audible gulp, Misty carefully unfolded the love letter. Her knees began to shake, she feared them going numb and she’d fall over her legs, further embarrassing herself in front of Red. As she undid the last fold, her face had to be hotter than the sun.

She blinked and stared at the messy scrawl that was Red’s handwriting.

_Misty  
_

_I thought you would win if I used Melon because that’s what you want, to win against me in a pokémon battle. I wanted you to win because we’ve been battling for the past seven years and you’ve never won a single match. I don’t want you to resent me for it after we leave this school because I consider you as one of my good friends.  
_

_I realized that it isn’t a good start for a gym leader to have a long list of loses. I’m sorry.  
_

_Red  
_

The blush on Misty’s face had completely evaporated by now and her heart couldn’t have shrunk any smaller. She felt colder than the blizzards up at Mt. Silver as she stared at the letter, she felt like crying all of a sudden and she wasn’t exactly sure why.

Red calling her a good friend made her feel sad and yet happy at the same time. However, the sad outweighed the happy. She looked up from the letter, wanting to vent out her sadness at him but stopped herself when she thought she saw the flicker of hope in Red’s eyes but it was gone almost immediately.

“Um, uh, thanks.” Misty said and gestured at the letter. Then she held out the bag of cookies without thinking. “Here, uh…Erika—I mean, we had some extra during Home Economics class and yeah, take it.”

Red nodded his thanks and took the bag of cookies. He was just about to turn around to leave when Misty spoke again.

“Uh…about the letter.” Misty began, not looking at Red, somehow feeling ashamed of herself. “It’s not losing, I mean, I don’t mind losing to you if it’s your pokémon. I don’t want to be handicapped, either. It kinda defeats the purpose of beating you. So…uh, next time…fight me fairly?”

Red nodded almost immediately, now understanding why Misty had been angry at him. If he had been in her shoes and he won the Championship title because the champion used his weak pokémon, he would have been royally pissed, too.

“Great.” Misty smiled, “I’ll see you later. Bye.”

Misty ran away from there as quick as her feet could, before the tears broke out. She wanted to find Erika, she needed a friend and one gallon of chocolate ice cream.

* * *

Green let out a huff of breath as he watched Misty run away, actually feeling pity for her. He had arrived minutes earlier when she was reading the letter Red gave her, he thought that may be Red was onto something but then she looked broken and Green knew Red broke her heart, even if both parties didn’t realize it yet.

Despite the sad love story that unfolded before his eyes, he felt light, almost as if he was flying and for once, he didn’t kill the feeling before it even started.

With a sheepish grin, he went over to his friend and threw an arm around his shoulders. Red had to tilt his head back a bit to look at Green, his red eyes ever so slightly wider than usual and Green knew he had caught him unawares.

“Where we were you all day, jerk?”

“Around.” Red answered, sounding almost cheerful.

Green grunted, “Come on, jerk, we have a shit ton of homework to do.”

Red nodded then remembered the cookies Misty gave him and held it out as if to tell Green that they should share it later.

Green let out a strange noise and grabbed the bag of cookies and told his naïve friend, “I don’t think so. Some guys told me Erika’s gloom sometimes drips on the food. Not a good idea.”

* * *

Just before retiring to bed that evening, Green found a peculiar piece of paper lying on his pillow. He turned his head to look at his roommate, only to find that he was already deep asleep, embracing Pika with Saur cuddling on his side and Poli lying beside them.

He turned to his own pokémon to ask if they saw Red put the paper on his pillow but all three of his pokémon were already fast asleep, too tired from running around looking around for Red. Green didn’t even have the heart to store Scizor in his pokéball even though he took so much space in their small room. He was grateful for the help from his pokémon.

“Oh well, let’s see what the heck this is.” Green muttered to himself and took the paper. When he had a clear look at it, he grunted. “Who the fuck taught him how to fold like a girl? Baggy style, too. He is so gay.”

However, Green unfolded it and saw the short but simple message scrawled on the piece of paper.

_Thank you._

He shook his head with a goofy smile (thank Arceus everyone was asleep). He folded the letter once more and hid it in his drawer before lying down on his bed to fall into dreamland happily.

* * *

Misty laid curled in bed that night, no longer crying because no tears would come out, no more whimpers because her throat was sore but she felt a little better.

Erika laid on the bed across hers, deep in slumber. She had been there with Misty comforting her, feeding her chocolate ice cream and blaming everyone in the world but her. Misty was glad to have a friend like her but deep down, she knew it wasn’t everyone’s fault—it was her own.

As she curled in bed, closing her eyes to let sleep overpower her, she made a promise to change and be a better person in hopes that may be someday her feelings would be noticed and reciprocated.

**Author's Note:**

> I legit had to use the heightdex and weightdex at pldh.net to see if Saur could really sit on Red's lap and if both of Red and Green's pokémon can fit in their room. -_-;;;


End file.
